Ex-sailor says he confessed to end grueling interrogation

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A former sailor says he falsely confessed to a 1997 rape and murder in Virginia after 11 hours of grueling interrogation because he just wanted the questioning to end.

Danial Williams testified Thursday in federal court in Richmond. Williams and Joseph Dick Jr. are trying to get their convictions for the rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko overturned.

Williams and Dick are two of the so-called "Norfolk Four," who have long claimed that police coerced them into falsely confessing.

The ex-sailors drew national attention when their innocence claims were backed by dozens of former FBI agents, ex-prosecutors and novelist John Grisham. In 2009, then-Gov. Tim Kaine freed three of the men from prison but allowed their convictions to remain. The fourth man had already been released.